Social Media Slams Latto For Not Knowing The Sample In 'Big Energy'

“I didn’t know that I knew it…”

Source: Paras Griffin / Getty

Social media raised a collective side-eye at Latto this week after the rapper claimed that she wasn’t fully familiar with the sample used in her hit song “Big Energy.”

The infectious track features a sample from the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love,” the same tune that can be heard in Mariah Carey’s hit single “Fantasy.” Latto, who often refers to herself as a big fan of the five-time Grammy-award-winner, said she wasn’t explicitly familiar with Carey’s 1995 classic, despite her “obsession” with the star.

The Clayco Queen revealed the tidbit during a chat with Hot 97’s Nessa.

“I had them play Tom Tom Club, my engineer–no disrespect, he was like ‘Girl this was at all my cookouts.’ I’m like, well yall gonna have to play it for me because I don’t know.”

Source: Steve Granitz/Wire Image / Getty

The star said that she was happy about re-introducing the song to a new generation of listeners.

“Even though Mariah re-introduced it to her generation, I think it’s dope to re-introduce it because I didn’t hear that song growing up in my household,” she continued. “So, I was like man, there’s probably a whole generation of people that aren’t familiar with it. They probably going to drag me for that one but I’m 100,” she laughed. “I DID know Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy”, but I didn’t know it. I didn’t know that I knew it,” she added noting that when it was played for her it “sounded extra familiar.”

Nessa also asked Latto if her using the term “Fantasy” in “Big Energy” was a nod to Mariah. The rapper admitted that it was not.

“It was more like it rhymed with energy and I was just saying stuff that rhymed with energy.”

Further along in the video, Latto continued to maintain her innocence noting how people would often tell her that she looked just like Carey as a child and even claimed she was a diehard fan.

“Everywhere I went, they were like ‘girl you look just like Mariah Carey!’…so I had this little obsession with Mariah Carey… I would just go home, watch all her music videos… I made her (her mother) go, buy all her physical albums,” the rapper added.

However, the Atlanta native’s response evoked a few suspicions from social media goers.

“How she claiming to have had a Mariah obsession but doesn’t know fantasy. The math ain’t mathing,” wrote one person.

Another social media user commented:

“I was looking for this cause I’m like the chic just boldface lied and contradicts herself in the second half of the clip.. smh u was the biggest Mariah fan and made your mom buy all her albums. But never heard fantasy..?!”

While a third user chimed in:

“I don’t understand artists who don’t know music.”

YIKES!

Despite Latto’s Mariah Carey mishap, “Big Energy” is the young hip-hop star’s second Billboard Hot 100 hit to explode, reaching No. 76 on the Billboard charts in November. Back in August, her raunchy single “B*tch from tha Souf” landed on the chart at No. 95 –foreshadowing big success for the 22-year-old.

Latto previously told Billboard that she knew the record would take off instantly after recording it.

“I’m young, and I wasn’t aware of the [“Genius of Love”] sample,” the rapper explained. “I just knew that it was a trap-pop blend. When they told me about the sample, knowing that it was a new sound for me, I knew it might cause controversy — but it’s so catchy at the same time. It might catch [listeners] off guard at first, and then they’d fall in love with it. I knew it would bring a new audience and fanbase to my career. I knew it was going to be [doing] what it was doing, to be honest.”

Ok… to be fair, Tom Tom Club’s original tune did come out way before her time, and maybe she didn’t hear “Fantasy” until later on in her adult life, but it does seem a bit strange that she would claim to be a “fan” of Mariah Carey and not know one of her BIGGEST singles, right?